Sexual assault and sex education
When I posted on the taxpayer-funded sex-ed filth from NHS Sheffield, I highlighted the problem of sexual bullying in schools. The other day, the Christian Institute had news of a programme made by BBC Scotland called The Dark Side of Teenage Sex. Fiona Walker found that over the past five years, over 500 charges of rape have been brought by Scottish Police against children and teenagers.
There is talk of disclosure of sex offences, and the provision of treatment places for young sex offenders. What is missing is any appraisal of the part played by explicit sex education in schools, and the failure to promote chastity. The BBC programme focusses on the more extreme case of rape but for each of these cases, there are likely to be many more instances of unwanted touching and coercion.
Children and teenagers need to know that some things are just "off limits"; but the message about sexual activity is a non-directive "only do it when you want to", "be safe" combination of coyly libertine morality and wishful thinking. The sexual drive in young men is a very strong impulse (distorted by original sin and compounded by actual sin) which every culture has checked by sanctions and taboos. Christian teaching on the family provides the highest and most noble expression of the sanctity of marriage and the proper place of sexual activity within that permanent union as something that must always be open to children. We should not be surprised that when this is not only abandoned but actively undermined in the education of the young, we will see an inexorable return to the worst kind of savagery.
There is talk of disclosure of sex offences, and the provision of treatment places for young sex offenders. What is missing is any appraisal of the part played by explicit sex education in schools, and the failure to promote chastity. The BBC programme focusses on the more extreme case of rape but for each of these cases, there are likely to be many more instances of unwanted touching and coercion.
Children and teenagers need to know that some things are just "off limits"; but the message about sexual activity is a non-directive "only do it when you want to", "be safe" combination of coyly libertine morality and wishful thinking. The sexual drive in young men is a very strong impulse (distorted by original sin and compounded by actual sin) which every culture has checked by sanctions and taboos. Christian teaching on the family provides the highest and most noble expression of the sanctity of marriage and the proper place of sexual activity within that permanent union as something that must always be open to children. We should not be surprised that when this is not only abandoned but actively undermined in the education of the young, we will see an inexorable return to the worst kind of savagery.
